“Rain” claims on Salt Bae – he even stole their tips

Lawsuits against famous Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae. He is accused of tip theft and discrimination. Complaint from an employee in Mykonos.

Lawsuits have been filed against his former employer by former employees of famous Turkish chef Salt Bae’s restaurants.

Celebrity Turkish chef Salt Bae faces lawsuits related to tip theft, gender discrimination, labor violations and a hostile work environment at his restaurants.

Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, became a popular internet meme in 2017 when a viral video showed him sprinkling salt in his own way on a piece of meat.

Since then, the Turkish chef has amassed a fortune of $70 million and has 22 restaurants around the world.

However, nine former employees have seven lawsuits against Salt Bae, according to independent.

A former waiter at Nusr-Et in Salt Bae, London, said the restaurant looks “golden on the outside” but is “bad on the inside”.

Another former waiter at his restaurant in Mykonos compared Nusret Gökçi to a “dictator”.

He used to take 3% of the tip

Another former waiter at his London restaurant compared the work environment to the Hunger Games because employees never knew if they would be fired during a shift.

“His world was nothing but Instagram and fame,” a former manager told Insider.

Several lawsuits refer to Salt Bay’s “aggressive style”. Five of his former New York employees alleged, in a lawsuit filed in August 2021, that he “frequently swears at employees.”

Four former employees also alleged in a complaint that tips were withheld from them. After this was protested, they were summarily dismissed. Salt Bae settled the lawsuit in October 2019 for $230,000.

It was the same year that another employee claimed in a class action that Salt Bae was stealing 3% of their tips. He was blocking it before it was distributed. The former bartender reached a settlement in July 2020 for $300,000. Nusret Gökçe’s lawyers called the allegations baseless.

A woman who worked at Dubai’s Gökçe restaurant told Insider that when she delivered a bag of “golden steak” leftovers to the wrong table, $140 was “cut off” from her tip.